The End of an Era
by Irhaboggles
Summary: Thanos' Snap didn't just kill half the universe's population. Maybe 50% died immediately after the Snap, but the total body count was much higher. Now, with their entire legacy having literally gone down in flames, the Afton family can do nothing but stare at the ashes that remain. It is the end of an era... but maybe... just maybe... that's not such a bad thing after all...


Thanos' Snap didn't just kill half the universe's population. Maybe 50% died immediately after the Snap, but the total body count was much higher. With half the universe suddenly gone, that left a lot of unfinished work, and some of that work turned fatal in the absence of a human caretaker.

Cars and planes crashed. Ships and nuclear power plans were suddenly left at half capacity. Combatants at wars overseas were suddenly left with half of their fellow men dead and, sometimes, there was no word from the commander if the commander had been one of the ones to die in the initial Snap. Surgeons died on the operating table, unwittingly taking their unconscious patients with them. Fires were suddenly left unattended. It was global chaos. Guardians, caretakers and workers, suddenly dusted away, were forced to leave all of their precious work to fate as they took an unexpected and indefinite pause.

It was the danger of an unattended fire that caused the next wave of deaths in the Fazbear Pizzeria Simulator. Even though only 50% of the workers were killed off, the ensuing chaos frightened away the other 50% and left the restaurant entirely humanless. The robots remained, physically incapable of fleeing the pizzeria, but they, too, were so deeply traumatized by the Snap that none of them thought to monitor the kitchens and other flammable areas until it was too late.

"FIRE!" one of them shrieked, pointing a metal wing towards the kitchen. Sure enough, the pizzeria began to go up in a blaze. A few of the braver bots tried to use water from the bathroom and sinks to quench the flames, but it was much too late. Furthermore, because the pizzeria had been built to burn down (as part of an elaborate plan run by a man who had just been annihilated in the Snap), the odds were stacked against the animatronics from the start and there was no hope for any of them.

"What do we do?" another animatronic panicked as the flames continued to grow, enveloping the entire pizzeria. As an automatic response, every door and escape route was sealed. This had been another intention design to aid in the arson plan. With every possible escape route sealing itself off when the pizzeria got too hot, it ensured that no one would try to leave as everything went up in an inferno. The design of the building performed its task flawlessly and the entire pizzeria was reduced to ash and cinders…

But there was NOT a 100% mortality rate. There were three survivors. One was a worker who had fled after the initial staff left him with only half of his staff left. This man was Michael Afton, the night guard and co creator of this newest Fazbear pizzeria. The other two survivors were robots, but they were not ordinary robots. They were entities possessed by the souls of the damned. Because of that, not only did they survive the Snap, but they were able to escape the pizzeria before it burned down. The other bots were constrained to the restaurant's premises, programming rendering them physically incapable of leaving Fazbear property. But those other two bots who were not 100% robot? Well, they did not have that programming within their circuitry and they were able to escape.

Now the trio stood upon the ashes of the final Fazbear pizzeria, staring at the blackened Earth in disbelief.

"What happened?" one of the robots, Scrap Baby, asked. Her voice glitched several times, but the others understood her perfectly. For once, there was no malice or sadistic joy in her voice, only confusion… and fear.

"Who can say?" the other robot, Scraptrap, asked. His voice was low and raspy from years of torment, soul and body both imprisoned within this metal form, but for once, he only sounded confused. Like Scrap Baby, all his usual malice and sadism were gone. It was as if the dark side of his personality had died in the Snap too.

"What do we do now?" the human, Michael, finally asked. He was shaking, physically unharmed but badly spooked by the sudden wave of death. None of them knew what had caused it and, as far as they knew, they might all drop dead next as well. It was a frightening thought…

For a time, the trio continued to stare unseeingly at the ashes of the pizzeria. But it wasn't just the death of the pizzeria that they were staring at. They were also witnessing the end of an era. An entire legacy had just been wiped away in one fell swoop, suddenly and unceremoniously, death coming to them like a thief in the night. This dark and twisted saga that had been built upon decades of death, despair, decay and dismay had suddenly been completely overturned. Even if this was the endgame all along, this was not supposed to be how it happened. That was what unsettled all three of them.

They had been so fixated on their own personal goals that their existences as tiny and inconsequential pieces of a larger universe had completely slipped their minds and this sudden death of half the universe was like a very, very rude awakening. If it was God attempting to remind humanity of its place, and warn them of the true danger of pride, and forgetting just how frail they truly were, the message had been successfully received. There was nothing quite as humbling as surviving a tragedy, especially of this caliber and type.

Even Scraptrap, the monster behind the entire nightmare, was finally at a loss for words. He was the man who had orchestrated it all, he had always been one step ahead of everyone else, and now suddenly, he felt very helpless and alone, his entire plan having been ripped away as easily as if had been but a piece of lint. For once, he felt defeated. For once, he had no backup plan. For once, he had been outwitted. For once, he had nowhere to go. In the blink of an eye, faster than a Snap, everything had gone…

And Scrap Baby felt similarly. Although she was only just another victim to Scraptrap and his endless schemes, she had lived and grown alongside the Fazbear legacy all her life! (And death). So staring at the ashes of the pizzeria felt like staring at the ashes of her home. It was gone. All gone. In just the blink of an eye. Now what? Now where? She felt like the scared little girl that she used to be decades and decades ago. On reflex alone, then, she reached out for Scraptrap's broken and rotting metal hand. For once, he let her hold it, not reprimanding her for being weak. Instead, he held onto her hand as well. And then he went so far as to reach out for Michael as well.

Even though Scraptrap and Michael had essentially been at war for all of these years, in the face of this much larger enemy, the demon inside Scraptrap had been tamed. At least for a time. But it was the first time in maybe forever that something powerful enough had come along that even Scraptrap was humbled and scared by it. It was the closest thing he'd come to feeling truly human…

"What do we do now?" Michael finally repeated, eyes still unseeing as he gave a weak shake of his head. He never thought he would live to see the day where he and his father were holding hands, but then again, he never thought he would live to see the day where his entire world suddenly vanished in a Snap. Even if only half the people in his life were dead, so much else had been lost after the Snap.

And his life may have been a living Hell, but even he didn't want this. This wasn't part of the plan! It wasn't supposed to have ended like this! Now what was he supposed to do? All that planning… all those years… gone… in the blink of an eye. He began to tremble in fear, despair and confusion and Scraptrap could feel it. Another wave of uncharacteristic concern and humanity crackled through his frayed wiring and he turned towards his son. For once, those maddened eyes looked sane. They were still not gentle or loving, but they were no longer wild and sadistic. He opened up his rotting metal arms, wire and old muscle hanging from the cracks. Michael looked at him for one second before finally accepting the hug.

Scraptrap's hug was incredibly uncomfortable, cold and hard and sharp, but for once, Michael did not care. If anything, he relished the pain. It was the one thing still connecting him to his life, and his body. Without that pain, he would've felt just as disassociated as the two robots standing beside him. The pain kept him tethered to his humanity. So he hugged Scraptrap tighter and Scraptrap did likewise, but not hard enough to accidentally crush his son's puny mortal form. Even though they were very far from being on good terms, for once, Scraptrap did not want to kill Michael and was willing to call a truce, even if only temporarily. But this was the end of an era, after all. Maybe the time for bitter and murderous rivalries was over too…

And that was when Scraptrap and Michael both remembered Scrap Baby. Together, they opened up their arms to her and even though she was taller and wider than both of them combined, she managed to fit herself into their arms. She wanted to cry, but as a robot whose body was in a very late stage of decay and not even remotely functional, she could only make strange and electric gulping noises. And she had no tear ducts either. They could hear the machinery in her body rumbling. It was how they knew she was sad and scared.

"It's gonna be ok, baby girl. It's gonna be ok," Scraptrap rasped through his broken voice box, metal hand clanking against Scrap Baby's massive back. Michael said nothing, but he mirrored his father's movements and ran a small, soft hand up and down Scrap Baby's metal claw of an arm. It was cold, hard, rough and deformed, but Michael did not pull his hand away. For that, Scrap Baby would be forever grateful. She tightened her arms around her father and he did the same, and so did Michael.

Underneath all that cold metal exterior, and behind that murderous visage, she was still only just a little girl who had never gotten the chance to grow up, and she needed her daddy and big brother now more than ever before. And the ironic thing was, they finally responded to her call. In this place of ultimate dehumanization, they finally allowed some of their long-lost humanity to shine through. After decades, the family that she had needed so many times before finally, finally, finally answered her call and it truly felt like home...

It truly was the end of an era… but maybe it could be the newer and better start to another one? Only time would tell… but first, they needed time to rebuild and start a new story... this time, together. Because their time in one another's story was not yet complete, but in this next chapter, they would be standing together rather than standing apart.

**AN: Here you go, GoldenFazbearGreen, your odd little Avengers/FNAF crossover fic. Jeez, what is it with superheroes and apocalypses right now? On top of this fic, I've got a couple detailing DC's Thanos Snap: the Crisis on Infinite Earths (shameless plug).**


End file.
